By DENNIS YUSKO Staff writer

Published 5:42 pm, Tuesday, February 15, 2011

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- A city police officer charged with stalking a woman in Wilton resigned Tuesday after being accused of using the Saratoga Springs Police Department's computer to target her friends and relatives with traffic tickets, sources with knowledge of the investigation said.

Patrick Arpei, 28, is accused of accessing the addresses and license plate numbers of people connected to the Wilton woman, pulling them over and ticketing them for bogus traffic infractions, the sources said. Arpei allegedly issued the tickets for infractions like driving with an obstructed view and improper parking in December and January on Round Table Road and Grand Avenue in the city, according to the sources.

Police and a special prosecutor in the case, Fulton County District Attorney Louise Sira, confronted Arpei with the accusations, and he resigned from the police department Tuesday afternoon, Saratoga Springs Police Chief Christopher Cole said.

"After receiving a complaint through the special prosecutor's office regarding alleged additional incidents involving officer Patrick Arpei, we did conduct an investigation and turned the results over to the district attorney in Fulton County for her review to determine if a criminal act was committed by the officer," Cole said. "In the meantime, Arpei has tendered his resignation with the department, which will close any pending internal investigation."

It's unclear if Arpei will face criminal charges for the latest allegations. Sira did not return calls.

At least a handful of friends and associates of Arpei's former girlfriend were targeted by the officer with traffic tickets, one source said. The other source put the number of people Arpei pulled over at seven or eight. Law enforcement officials confronted Arpei once they noticed a pattern to the tickets. Those who were wrongly charged will have their tickets dropped, according to Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III's office.

State Police had charged Arpei last year with fourth-degree stalking, a misdemeanor, on accusations he repeatedly contacted his former girlfriend in Wilton over 10 months between 2009 and 2010, according to court records.

They referred the case to Murphy, who handed it to Sira because Arpei was a witness in several criminal cases being handled in Murphy's office.

The case was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal in November, meaning it would have been dismissed after six months if Arpei complied with court orders and stayed out of trouble. Arpei was permitted to keep working.

The stalking case ended with the victim obtaining a five-year restraining order against Arpei, a four-year member of the force who is single and lives in the city.